Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“What just happened was lovely, Trystan,” she paused, choosing her next words very carefully. “But that’s probably as far as it goes for us.”
“Why?” His question was edged with frustration.
“Because I think you see me as some kind of challenge, a prize to be won. Someone taboo and off limits to you. I don’t belong in your world. And judging from the way you’ve cut yourself off here, isolated yourself from your charmed life and your glamorous friends, my ordinariness is appealing and different—and what you believe you want right now. You think you crave normality, but what you really need is to go back to your reality and face whatever demons drove you away in the first place.”
“You need to stop psychoanalyzing me, Iris. Why I’m here is none of your fucking business.”
“Trystan, you’ve run away from your life and your responsibilities to hide in this godforsaken place like a big old chicken. You need to stop behaving like a two-year-old having a tantrum and, together with your shitty manager, figure out what you’re going to do about your future.
“Because while what he did to me was wrong, it was also an act of desperation. The bastard is so damned keen to get your attention and snatch you back to the real world that he dragged my unwitting arse straight into your mess. So, excuse me if you think I’m out of line, but this became my business when your manager tricked me into coming here and you chose to deny knowing about my reasons for being here.”
She turned away from him, heading toward the bathroom, trying not to care that her bare butt was on display. After all, he’d seen pretty much all there was to see of her by now and she knew that her self-consciousness was a little absurd under the circumstances.
He remained silent after her impassioned rebuke, and Iris was almost convinced he would allow her to have the last say, until she reached the en suite door.
“Iris?”
She paused in the doorway, shoulders tensed and back braced, as she waited for whatever he had to say. She refused to turn and face him, even though she knew by now how crazy it drove him when she wouldn’t look at him.
She could sense his aggravation and frustration in the long pause before he finally spoke again. “Your most ridiculous assumption lies in your belief that I think you’re ordinary. I think I may have mentioned before that nothing could be further from the truth.”
She couldn’t help it, his words—spoken with such passionate sincerity—forced her to turn and face him. She needed to see for herself if the feeling she’d heard in his voice was visible in his eyes, or on his face.
But disappointingly, his expression revealed not a single emotion. His eyes seared into hers and she actually found herself flinching beneath the scorching ferocity of that gaze.
She remained silent in the wake of his astonishing proclamation, not entirely sure what to make of it. In the end, she turned away and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her with quiet deliberation.
Chapter Thirteen
Iris remained in her room for the rest of that day and most of the following one. Luna had come scratching at the bedroom door about an hour after Iris’s awkward, silent breakfast with Trystan.
Iris had let the dog in and Luna was now stretched out on the bed—taking up pretty much all of the mattress space—and snoring away contentedly. Iris had retreated to the comfortable easy chair in the corner and, after updating her journal, had tried writing a few chapters. But her concentration was shot, and she couldn’t stop thinking about Trystan, and the things they had done to each other yesterday.
Worse, she couldn’t stop fantasizing about doing it, and so much more, again. Was she being foolish in denying them both what they so desperately wanted? Probably, but she couldn’t allow herself to be vulnerable around a man like Trystan Abbott. He would soon come to his senses and realize that everything she’d said was true. He didn’t really want her, he wanted what he thought she represented. And Iris didn’t think she’d be able to survive being carelessly discarded by him. He’d become too real to her.
Iris shook herself as she realized that she’d been staring into space for a good five minutes. She sighed and set aside her laptop, curling up in the chair with her knees tucked against her chest.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the quiet knock on her door at first. Luna’s gentle woof snatched her back to reality and her head jerked up when the knock sounded again.
“Yes?” she called hoarsely. “Come in.”
The door opened and Trystan stepped into the room. Iris stared at him unblinkingly for a long, blank moment. He had shaved, and her stomach did a horrible flip-flop as she stared into that very familiar face. This was THE Trystan Abbott. And for a second, she felt a pang of loss that her Trystan had disappeared so completely… and then she finally saw it, the scar bisecting the clean line of his jaw. Without the beard it was more noticeable, a physical reminder of the accident that had killed Trish Nesbitt.